TOP US ACCOUNTANT PREDICTS MEDICARE PLAN D DISASTER

The new Medicare Plan D prescription
drug program is so "financially irresponsible"
that it could plunge the entire Medicare
program into bankruptcy, warned US
Comptroller General David Walker.

During a televised interview on the CBS
"60 Minutes" news program, Walker said
that, when the first wave of baby boomers
start receiving Medicare benefits in 3
years, the result will be a "tsunami of
spending that could swamp our ship of
state if we don't get serious" about controlling
health care and entitlement program
costs.

Walker, the nation's top accountant and
head of the Government Accountability
Office, characterized the new prescription
drug benefit as the final straw for an
already fiscally shaky Medicare program.